>> what they are doing. they are bonding and bonding. neil: you can only do that so long. >> where are the bond vigilantes. neil: you can only do that game for so long. you can't keep -- >> they have been playing ponzi schemes for generations. neil: it is time to stop. >> the governors will continue kicking the can down the road. neil: i don't know, they will realize bondholderring will get to the point, say no more, we're out of here. >> you have seen some pieces of democratic coalition where unions big pieces fall apart looka chicago with rah rahm emanuel had to deal with the teacher union over the summer. so unions within democratic coalition face push back because there is a realization these are

unrealistic demands. neil: hat applies to corporate america to apply to public we'll see, thank you very much, in the meantime, i want to remind you about your special coverage tomorrow night of president's state of union address, marco rubeo, and we'll be gauging the market reacted. 3 hours of best coverage you can get anywhere, truth be told, i work at fox news, but brit bare is watching -- brett baier is watching, he is watching me, wh. now it's time for melissa francis. ♪ melissa: i'm melissa francis, and here is what is "money" tonight. sequester chaos. brutal budget cuts loom. both sides refuse to budge, and the economy is set to pay the price. director of the natonal economic council will join us on whether the white house can resolve it.

plus, speaking his mind. delivering a fierce defense of conservative health care proposals and free-market sweat president obama's sitting right next to him. he said of a firestorm. dr. carson is here with his plan. that john dropping discovery by the federal trade commission gallatin's of millions of credit reports are riddled with errors. consumers don't even know about it. we have a top credit expert with the first thing you need to do to protect yourself. even when they say it's not, it's all about "money." ♪ melissa: on to our top story. one issue at the forefront, of course, sequestration. that is the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that are set to kick in march 1st. that is less than three weeks away by the way.

huge implications for americans and the economy if the cuts can credited by some including bob woodward as the one who originally came up with the idea of sequestration. i spoke to him a few minutes ago an estimate that is really the case. >> i would not say that is exactly accurate. what really happened was we wanted to have an enforcement mechanism that included revenues . the republicans refuse to have any revenue of all and then as the days were ticking by, the only think that they would except and really hink that was able to get 174 republicans to support was this type of sequestration that was on all spending cuts including defense. this was not our preference. anything anybody wanted to go into effect. this was designed -- melissa: the way you describe this, the trigger would locket

our commitment even though we disagree on the composition of how to get to these cuts, which is what you were saying. it would lock us in an informant automatic sequester and punish both sides. to you feel like right now would is punishing both sides and working and getting everyone to the table? >> my hope is that both sides feel that it would punish the economy, our defense colored education, heard workers. it would hurt confidence in our economy. so many investors and businesses are put off by seeing this monthly or every few months clef or sequestration word debt limit threat. so my whole business, people understand this is unnecessary and that we should come together and have the type of entitlement reform that has savings together with additional tax reform that has savings that is balanced, bipartisan, no one will like it. republicans will not want to do many -- much revenues. a lot of democrats. melissa: republicans are saying they have already put a lot of revenue on the table and been

down that road and notice time for the other side to go ahead and do some real, honest spending cuts that are present or real entitlement reform that would happen now. >> well, that is less than half the story because really we have cut two and a half trillion from the deficit. only 600 billion. about 25-30 percent of that has been from revenues. so the overwhelming amount of protection we have gotten, including the budget control act that happened in 2011 came from spending cuts. what we have so far is balanced spending cuts and revenue, but far more spending cuts. i think what we need to do going forward is the type of balance that the president had when he put forward his offer. melissa: counting savings from the series of continuing resolutions, frozen budgets they were already baked in a matter who was the president. those would bean or

recounted. >> whoever is saying that -- that is not an accurate view of the budget. thisis ithe budget control act. 174 republicans voted. the speaker said it cut 98 percent of what he wanted. and it included very deep cuts in disretionary spending that put us on the path to have the lowest discretionary spending since the eisenhower administration. that is well over a trillion dollars in spending cuts. there were two or 300 billion of additional spending cuts. together those spending cuts with revenue in the interest we say when we lower the deficit means we cut to a half trillion with out 75 percent of that being from spending cuts. melissa: and let you bring that up bause a lot of critics said accounting net interest and that 500 billion in reduced interest that would result from a lower debt assumes the lower debt down the road. much like the situation we can be tested that cuts will happen. so to cut that as savings now

when it's backing of less spending way off in the future is unfair math. that sort of disingenuous. >> has just not the case. this was, remember, this was what the speaker or 174 republicans voted for. melissa: disingenuous is disingenuous. it does seem that the american public like neither side is really serious collectin data solving a spending problem. >> is the law of the land. it is locked into law that spending has been reduced by well over one of a half trillion dollars, including interest savings. it is locked into the law of the land. it was voted for in a bipartisan way. yes, we did get some revenues. the message you should have is that we have made progress but have further to go in the entitlement reform revenue reform in the both sides to be willing to compromise and not allow this -- not try to do it by letting a sequestered that

lowered national defence, jobs and education. bipartisan compromise with those revenues entitlement reform is the right way for us to move forward. melissa: everne outside the beltway is watching. thank you for coming on. we'll keep watching. >> thank you. melissa: let's turn to our "money" power panel for reaction senior economics writer for the wall street journal. executive editor with the weekly standard and a fox news contributor. chief investment officer. thank you for being there. if i know you, you were tearing your hair out during that conversation, wadding up pieces of paper, throwing them at the tv. let me let you lose. what would you say to that? >> you know me too wel. i just don't think there was a lot of truth to what she was talking about. he kept saying we have lacked in these trillion and a half dollars of savings. as stand on my head and have my

head if they ever cut a trillion and a half. is that going to happen he lived through these even longer than i have. you know this. they make these promises. both parties do this. >> stand on your head while shaving it. it doesn't seem like this is going to happen. >> let just say one thing. would anyone think they're going to cut the spending five years chernobyl we have to cut right now on the wall? >> i think that's true. and, of course, what he's talking about the law bunch of keys of the budget control act, said taps. cancer the easiest things to blow through. congress does it all the time. they can steal plenty. taking credit for spending cuts that have not happened yet is something the white house should not do. perales said, he was no white house that came up with theiea of the sequestered. last year republicans in the

house passed bills that would have replaced the sequestered. the other spending cuts and various things, which would not float poor people out of the homeless shelter or anything like that. what happened, the president said he would veto that. the president is using this brinksmanship down to the last minute and saying that if i don't -- melissa: let's talk about the last minute. he was saying that americans don't want this to happen. it is killing to be a disaster. i think there are some people move feel like these are children who have not done their homework, eat their vegetables, whatever is you want to say. you almost want to see them have the punishment except for the rest of the country being punished. what do you think is the consequence? >> i think that we should have a sequester. ultimately it is the only way that we can get some spending cuts happen. i just loved it. when you were calling him out for the disingenuous pieces.

he was squirming. i loved that peace. it was so good. he is saying that we are on the path towd the spending cuts, and if u.s. to further and that he's going to tell you that it's over ten years or 20 years that we would get 800 billion or some outrageous number. when you break that down 800 billion over ten or 20 years, were going to spend 800 billion in the next two weeks. melissa: and a lot of things, that like to put to the republicans and said they did this and that and they're not cutting spending. you know what, yes, just as guilty. is there any hope we will get this under control? of starting to feel a little despondent. >> the other part of a story from of a sequester, the white house made a big miscalculation here two years ago. they came up with this mechanism, they thought the republicans would never go along with these defense cuts. low and behold they say we can

live with that and the president is saying we can't. here's why your question is an important one. i don't have too much faith in either party. 85 billion to what did they do? $60 billion. only 20 billion of that was even for the victims. the other 40 billion was pork. i'm with spencer. they ought to do these automatic cuts and the only way they will. melissa: would it be so ugly if this happens? he's done a good job of schering everyone that the economy will contract and there will be countless people of work. >> people have heard that stuff from president obama before. these cuts wouldn't even take us back to where obama began. they are small compared to the spending that had been added by president obama. even know is to three percentage points that had traditionally been then he wants to spend more .

look. there are obviously is. it's too bad that you cut all this out of the fence because the defense is already ben cut rather brutally. it's too bad to do it there, but this really is the only way you're going to reduce spending. otherwise it will happen. melissa: steve said earlier that it's like president obama got up there and dug a trap for is the enemy and then by accident fell into it. i didn't want to go without using his ." what do you think about that? were going to set upa severe. >> that's exactly right. you wait for and to give the state of the union address and it will show all the scholars. he will be vulcanizing the upper class, saying that they are paying their fair share.

melissa: that's the new. as does the same. >> to see it and collect and the seri is by cutting the deficit. these are to be touched or more spending and to continue down the road spending cuts. melissa: they do for tat wrapup. we appreciate it. let's turn to today's market moments. debt stocks dipped into negative teitory. losses in energy help lead to decline. the major indices each posted slight losses next on "money," it's not easy steps is the president. dr. ben carson may have done just that. he sure of the health care system instead tax-loss with president obama just a few feet away. dr. carr says your to give us his vision for a better fiscal future. plus, you may know your credit score, but it could be dead wrong. turns out tens of millions of credit reports o bears.

>> "money" coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus ith investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.

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the. ♪ melissa: set off a firestorm at last week's annual prayer breakfast with the president sitting right next to him. criticizing our health care system tax policy even saying we are bound to go the way of the romans. joining us with more dr. ben carson, also author of the book america the beautiful and you surprised by how much controversy this has stirred? and many peoplare talking about this? did you expected? >> i knew there would be some, the unexpected magnitude. just overwhelmed, the deluge. 99 percent positive. starving for logic and common

sense and doesn't seelike they're getting a lot of that anymore. melissa: hilton critics have said is that it wasn't the best setting, appropriate at a prayer breakfast to go of the attack. >> i think a prayer breakfast, we should be talking about the spirituality of our nation. one of the things that is contrary to spears roddy is an unfairness of meanness, cruelty, all of those kinds of things that are happening in a recession have. advocates a very appropriate place to talk about it. >> one of the comments goes to what you were just saying. it's about the flat tax. >> make 10 billion, yu put in a billion. you may tend to be put in one.

>> the guy who made the -- word is said you have to hurt the guy? he just put a billion dollars in the pot. we don't need heard him. melissa: boy, when you watch that, and watching president obama's face because he is, i mean, like stone. he's not giving any sort of reaction. he doesn't want to give people anything to talk about. did you ta afterwards? what was his response? >> he came over to me and was very gracious. he said thank you. it was a wonderful speech and i admire you. he w very cordial. that wasn't presented as an attack on him or an attack on anybody. it was presented as another way to look at things. we have reached a stage in our society where if you disagree with what's being put out there, you're attacking someone witches

of -- not the way it should be. we should be will to put our ideas on the table and have an intelligent discussion. ideologues always feel threatened, but people who are honest and want to solve problems are very welcoming of different opinions. melissa: to that point you have come up with a number of different solutions. you yourself are a pediatric neurosurgeon. one of your ideas as to set up a health savings account at birth that would allow patients to managers in their care, create incentives to put money away over your lifetime tax free in order to pay for your health care. do you think this would work? is anyone taking this seriously? >> i think it would work extraordinarily well because if it's really based on the food stamp program. people get a monthly allocation will. they learn very quickly go out and buy porterhouse steaks and star of.

people would learn very quickly if they have a health savings account when they have a problem to go to the place where ey can get it taking care of and expand less of their health savings account. also, when you allow them to pass it on to their progeny at the time of the death, they start thinking in a very different way. there will be tried to spend it all up. there will be happy to pass it on to their son or daughter were branson our granddaughter. that's bringing personal responsibility into the home makes. we have to have another way take care of catastrophic health care , and that's something that we need to sit down and talk about. i think it would work extraordinarily well. melissa: he talked about all that. also toward reform which is a popular theme. the flat tax. is there any chance you're running for office? >> people have been asking me at for years and years and trying to press the. i have always said, unless e

law grabs me by the collar and not really interested in doing that. i certainly think that all of us, because we, the people, are what this whole country is all about. we should be able to weigh and on how it is run without being accused of attacking anyone or creating problems. melissa: we have to run. i think my see a hand on her collar. you better be careful. someone's going to drag you win. thank you for coming of. we appreciate your time. coming up, bob shall study says 40 milli credit reports are filled with errors. it's going to be costing you big time. top creditor expert joins us. how to clean up the mess. list of u.s. airways and american prepared to form the country's biggest airline. would it actually make flying less miserable for passengers? regards to explain.

♪ melissa: this shocking report from the federal trade commission showing that 10- 10-21 percent of people have a confirmed error at least one of their credit reports. 5% of all consumers have an error that is severe enough to cause the money by affecting their chances of getting a loan or even landing a job. the worst part is that the ftc report says that the big three credit reporting is a cease to basically nothing to investigate consumer complaints. great to have you back and the show. at that these numbers were really startling, and they are not coming from someone-out person doing a report. this is from the actual ftc saying they found 40 --

42 million with a big mistake, 20 million in the state began to cost them money. >> it's a little bit disturbing. the ftc 370 page report actually had a little bit of statistics to support both sides of the argument. the executive summary suggested that between ten and 21 percent had what they refer to as a confirmeerror, which is different than just the consumer saying, hey, i have something wrong. it was actually an error that was verified as an air. the credit reporting agencies maintain about 200 million credit files in their systems. that is where the 20 to 42 million consumer files come from that have some varying degree of error, and that's why you have that range. but. melissa: it's clear that it is rampant. even when we were talking about this this morning. happened to me in my household.

they confuse you with someone else has the same name but a totally different birthday. getting it resolved is nearly impossible. you call and say this is the meet. they act like any other into the phone the writing something down but then things don't change. how do you deal with it? >> and you're right. under the fair credit reporting act your rights are clear. you have the right to challenge anything then you feel is inaccurate. the obligation when you do this is that the credit reporting agencies must perform what is referred to as a reasonable investigation. that is a little bit misleading. investigation suggests they are out there investigating your claim when what they're really doing is going to the source of the information, which is usually a financial institution or a collection agency and asking them. melissa file the dispute saying this is in hers. is she right or wrong? and they're waiting for the source of the information. melissa: no time horizon. any kind of limiting time

horizon? also, if they're just going back to the person who made a mistake in the first place, that person nine times that of general say that cirque. it seems like if the fcc is looking into this in writing this report, should i hold out hope that they will do something? this means it has reached such a big problem that the government might act on our behalf? >> well, to answer your first question, yes. federal law says credit reporting agecies have 30 days to respond. they cannot just ignore you. second, they are going back to the source, and so it is likely that the source that they got it wrong the first time is going to get it wrong the second time. that is when they generally suggest that you go to the source to take your complaint about them. the reason they did this study, they did not just do it for the heck of it. a federal law passed in 2003 saying they had to. this was an 9-year-old rule that essentially said the after before credit file accuracy study which is why they did this the bottom line is we a consumer

have to become weigh more engaged with our credit reports. unless we raise our hands and say it but, there is an air, they have no obligation under federal law. melissa: you fill out this form and that one. reports in your labmaking headway, then hire a lawyer? >> i very rarely give this suggestion, but i absoluty suggest you go old school. i say you put it in writing and you send a using u.s. mail because that way you can actually freehand year dispute and nazis one of the predetermine dispute reasons that they give you one arline systems. and you can also track that they have received your dispute. is now one of these he said verses she said typos in areas where they can say we never received it. something else you should do.

whether you love them or hate them, the role that a consumer credit report complaint and database last year. you can file your complaint directly. did you see some of the fines levied last year? the last thing the credit reporting agencies want to do is have the siepi be in their back pocket. so as a consumer you do have some pretty options with teeth. melissa: and writing that down. news you can use. thank you for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thanks. melissa: have you ever had a mistake and your credit report? if so, how hard was it to get fixed? your responses range from ever having an air to being impossible to fix to the whole gamut. we want to hear from more of you. follow me on twitter. up next flying stinks'.

what american airlines merger with u.s. airways could change the game for passengers is next. plus, is there anything the you can't do? and glastonbury makes a breakthrough in renewable energy. and here, yes, dear, be they green power of the future? one of the me behind it joins us to explain. piles of "money" and pints of beer coming up. my mother made the best toff in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make ihappen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

♪ melissa: new reports, american airlines and u.s. airways are expected to emerge as soon as wednesday. the $11 billion deal probably has some travelers cringing amazing places skyrocketing well service takes a nosedive. maybe that will be the case. here to tell us if we are about to be introduced to the flying experience, airfare watchdog. george zimmerman, founder and ceo and chairman. thank you for joining us. let me start with you. will this make our experience better or worse? >> actually, i think it's going to be better. they have been in a race to the bottom for decades. service has deteriorated. i am presuming that a stronger

airline industry in the united states will lead to better service. melissa: do you agree? of course immediately people think, well, if they immerse there's less competition. prices go up. maybe they have more pricing power and can afford to provide better service. >> that byrd stonefly. creating this merger, we are creating a fatter bird. think about it. i mean, lets go back to the merger of continental airlines and united. look at what happened. rated 15th the 15th and operations. operational support. operations in general. let's go even deeper. think about what the consumers are saying. they feel like there being gouged. they feel like they have been overpriced and tickets. united tried to raise ticket prices twice last year and had to revert back. they charge consumers for banks. they get ticked off about that. i jut think overall --

melissa: is definitely not. it's not up positive experience one. one of the concerns is if yo have fewer airlines overall, the small markets or even just smaller markets don't get serve by as many airlines because there is as much competition. if you haen to go to a market that is not terribly popular you will pay through the roof and not have a lot of choices. did this affect the problem worse? >> that is true. i have seen seven e-mails from december's seasonally discover the united does not live there anymore and then leave them stranded. the reason is because they are losing money in general. i think now with a larger airline structure america will fly people to more places more easily. you're flying from new york to los angeles that you can get through charlotte or another u.s. airway have been the same is true of the united delta

merger. i don't think it's going to be bad for consumers. and like to see low air fares, but i really don't think. melissa: it does support the industry. maybe that's the reason we have come to dread line. one of the biggest problems that airlines have now is really image. it used to be before i was born that people would dress up to fly and look forward to it and it was this special experience. now we know. we all dread it. you just hear the horror stories. you expect the worst. our attitude is so poor because it has been a terrible experience. how did they turn that around? >> first of all, if you go back to southwest founded in 1971 anything but the experience, it is a no-frills airline, but it is still a great experience. most importantly with that the employees love their airline. when you look back again at the united continental merger the

employees are disgruntled, not happy, and that think that if u have have the employees is going to have happy customers. when you look at their singing to you. so i think again if you held the position of brent properly you need to activate the brand with a great experience. melissa: what are the odds of this new combined airline doing a better job positioning in identifying? i hear at jordan as saying. people think of jet blue in a positive way. they have had a certain attraction, television, the market it in a way that it feels fresh and young and vibrant. how can the new merged airline dissenting? >> i agree that one reason why does what -- southwest employees are happier is because they have not gone through bankruptcy, been furloughed, lost pensions. american has to man the other airlines have commanderies and they have is beause they're too many airlines chasing too few not discrionary travelers.

people who don't really have to fly that can stay home or drive or take a bus. i think a stronger airline industry in this country will make for happier airline employees. what you think of your flight attendant loss -- not smiling? i also think we are competing against those very well funded international carriers. siphoning off some of the high- value international travelers. so we're not just competing mocks ourselves in the u.s. dustry that these very well-financed and sometimes subsidized international characters. melissa: thank you for coming on. we appreciate your time. time for today's report on oil futures making the biggest dollar gain of the year. a weakening u.s. dollar against the euro of fuel the rally. $97.3 per barrel. gas prices hitting their highest level ever for february 11th.

aaa says the average price pe gallon paid $3.59. that is an increase of nearly $0.25 in the past two weeks. the u.s. added record levels of when that power in. more than 60 percent of new capacity came in the fourth quarter. concerns that know wind energy tax credit would expire in december held spike that drive. all right. so this is the ty of great energy that i can finally get behind. solar and wind under the table. the man behind the breakthrough technology joins us next. i hope the white house takes notes on this one. the end of the day it's all about money and beer.

♪ melissa: a new type of drink is on tap. the brewery is now serving beer powered by beer. in an effort to cut fuel costs and the use heating oil the company has installed a new boiler that operates on spend great which is the leftover waste for the brewing process. joining me on the phone to

explain is brendan smyth bring operations and engineering manager at the alaskan brewing company. welcome to the show, and i want to make sure the have the story right. that is really expensive, in addition how expensive it is to use fuel oil to power plants, so you figure that out to make all work. what you pk up from there. >> that's right. we have been drying spent green for 60 years 17 years. the unique thing is that it does not burn like other fuels. that is pretty much the reason why otherbreweries around the world have had a hard time making this work. we were able to end use the system or we could use this as the fuel. offset a lotof the thermal energy needs that we have, not just because we are barilla and

we need a lot of water a couple of beer, but because we do have to drive our great. and added expense that we are able to offset. melissa: wjust saw a picture of the spent grain. it looks delicious. it looks just like scrambled eggs. i'm kidding. you had to go out and buy a new furnace. it basically burns these spent grains and turns them into steam, turbine. you have a grant for half a million dollars. help cover part of the cost from the federal rural energy for america program. hodid you figure out that was available? we have done it is not? >> we figured out it was available during our process. the economic process. of course there wre looking for opportunities to assist. a unique project and essentially we developed it and nobody -- did not have a blueprint to go off of, there is a tremendous risk to doing this project. to answer the question what we

have done it without the grant, we might have eventually done it, but disenable listed do this sooner than we otherwise might have. for a business of our size a real is quite the investment concern. realizing benefits. melissa: and you don't have to pay that money back. i understand the you are saving 60 to 70 percent of fuel because that is what you would have spend. so how long do you think before you are in the green and have made back the money you spent? >> this should be fortified years. melissa: that is a long time. >> we're basically out that money intel is paying back. it's actually not too bad, but for a project of this size for a company of our size it's definitely aikman been a lot of funds for quite some time melissa: did you get a lot of pr?

>> the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. people are positive about the fact we are becoming energy efficient. lissa: they just want to drink beer that is powered by deer. take you for coming on. we appreciate it. gridlock. in coming, and astra is making a record close psed by the earth this week. it may not be armageddon, but couldn't be armageddon for yourself on. he will explain. you can never have too much "money" are too many asteroids. ♪

♪ melissa: you know what time it is, it is te for spare change, we have a gate pair, first up. sick of coffee in the morning? mountain dew coming up with a new drink. it is made with juice, vitamins and a jolt of caffeine, it is healthy too, only 80-calories,

what do you think? >> i would try it. melissa: would you? >> i i am one of these people that goes to 7-eleven and i take a cup and i mix everything. >> my 16-year-old son does that, it's called a suicide. melissa: are you trying this? >> i'm not huge on morning drinks, i think like 90-milligrams of caffeine, 3 hur330-milligrams in a 16-ouncep of starbucks. melissa: i like the 5% fruit juice, you can sort of feel good. 5%. >> why not call i morning dew . >> i will not name a name, red bull, i put it in the glass, it took the finish off -- melissa: no! >> over the weekend. >> like vodka. >> that is what it was.

melissa: last year, people debuted its perfume in canada, now in the u.s., you have to act fast, only 24 bottles are available for a limited time, eto even have a shot you must tweet pizza hut, what do you think? ashley, would you get that for your wife for valentine's day. >> i was getting the onion rings dedeodorant